Episode 44 – From Homeless to Princeton with Marcus Stroud
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Marcus Stroud’s story is one you might not even believe as you hear it. He experienced ups and downs as his life intersected with people like President Barack Obama and MLB All-Star Torii Hunter.
There was a time when he lived in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Dallas, and times when he was homeless. And while you’re going to have to hear the details from Marcus himself, one thing you won’t miss is the faith, perseverance, and sheer tenacity that Marcus shows in all aspects of his life, including his work at TXV Partners, which he’ll share more about today.
Episode Transcript
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Hey, everybody gets the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. We are so happy you’re here. Marcus Stroud story is one you might not even believe as you hear it. He experienced the ups and downs as his life intersected with people like President Barack Obama and MLB all star Tory Hunter. There was a time when he lived in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Dallas and times when he was homeless. And while you’re going to have to hear the details from Marcus himself, one thing you won’t miss is the faith, perseverance and sheer tenacity that Marcus shows in all aspects of his life, including his work at TV Sex Partners, which will share more about today. I’ll let him take it from here. Let’s listen in.
Welcome back to the future of an Investor podcast. We’ve got a special guest with Marcus Stroud today. And as you’ve probably gathered, this is the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast podcast where we look at sharing stories about people are really making an impact in the larger faith driven investment movement. And just as a quick recap, as you undoubtedly come to understand, there’s a new model of investing. The old model had been that a Christian might take all their assets and put up here on the left hand. If you could see what I’m doing right now up on my left hand, make as much money as you possibly can. And then to the extent you understand the biblical message of generosity, you give it away on the right hand side. And a collection of us, a movement of us have come to understand that the very process of putting investment capital to work might accomplish the same types of ministry goals that we otherwise had done and are giving. And we don’t have to give up market return to do that. We can do that across geographies, asset classes, different return profiles from market return to gospel, catalytic and in that big player, of course, our funds and private equity funds. And they tend to find themselves in two different categories. One are people who have been fund managers for a long time, many of whom have worked at some really established secular funds and are bringing their faith to work, bringing things like chaplaincy and with their portfolio. And there’s another breed of fund manager that’s coming out, seen a problem and an opportunity in the marketplace, taking some of their background, some of their drive and their passion and starting a new fund, doing it with spiritual integration at the core of what they’re doing. And this interview that we have with Marcus is in that latter category, somebody starting a fund with a great background, great intentionality. Some things we think are super unique and just overall. Great story. So, Marcus Stroud, welcome to the program.
Marcus Stroud: Thanks for having me. Thank you, guys. Big fan of the program and really excited to be here.
Thank you. Thank you. So we’re going to get right into what you do. You work at Tsvi, but before we do that, we want to hand the mic back over to you and give you a chance to share your story. I’ve heard parts of it, but I want to turn over to you and just hear what it was like growing up. Who are you? Where do you come from?
Marcus Stroud: Yes, thanks a little bit about me. Who am I? Where do I come from? I grew up in a small town called Prosper, Texas. Prosper is about thirty minutes outside of Dallas Fort Worth. A lot of people know about Prosper now because we’re about ten minutes away from the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. My story, how I end up and prosper. My father was an NFL player from our sports reporter, and when I was young, my father actually watched my mother. And so my mom was a single mother, raised my brothers and I. And, you know, we had a pretty tough background, you know, growing up. But we were fortunate in that she had married an individual who had bought some land out prosper. We moved there kind of before the huge real estate boom that had happened in north Texas. And, yeah, that’s how we end up. And Prosper is a really, really cool time, because in Prosper, there was only like, I’d say, fifteen hundred people. But of the six or seven African-Americans that were in Prosper, five of them were famous athletes like Deon Sanders and Tori Hunter. And so I had a really cool opportunity to grow with some really cool.
Seen and live in a really cool town, so tell us about that, some of these athletes that you came across or any of them role models.
Yeah. So, you know, grow and prosper is cool because, like I said, it’s not that many people there. And so you have to access to these athletes and so you get to live with them and see them on a day to day basis. And so for me, being one of the few affluent African-Americans kind of in that area that wasn’t an athlete, they were always enamored by the fact that my family was well-off, but they weren’t athletes. And so we had many, many dinners where they talked about business with my mother and my stepfather. And it was just cool because a lot of these guys were looking for the next year in their life. And so a Tory would have, you know, a lot of his friends like Gary Sheffield and a ton of folks over. And they’d be asking my stepfather ideas about real estate or about music, and they’d be asking my mom questions about the radio because she was working in radio at the time. And so, you know, it was cool to see my mentors or people like Toriano where people like Deon Sanders growing up and, you know, they all had kids my age. And so we had a very competitive sports background. We had a bunch of Tier one athletes and that led to a lot of folks coming down to recruit. And so so it was just a very, very competitive environment. Super awesome. And, you know, those guys proved to be unbelievable for me later in my life, which I guess I’ll go into. You know, my mom and my stepfather had a lot of success and they were doing really well right before the financial crisis happens. We actually had an opportunity to host President Obama at our house for a fundraiser. And so they were looking for a rural kind of town that exemplified Texas, if you will, you know, that had hay bales and all that out there. And so they chose to come post them at our house. And so it was truly an insane moment, an opportunity for our family, because, you know, you had the soon to be president United States. You have several senators, you have several A-list celebrities. And, you know, you have a guy who’s just telling his story, if you will, and just trying to meet people as he’s running for president. And, you know, that kind of catapulted our family in a way that we then had a lot of celebrities reaching out to, is asking us for advice and want to become our friends. Because obviously, if you’re powerful enough to have the soon to be president, the United States in your home, you know, you must be somebody worth knowing. And so life was pretty crazy for me, I’d say, from the ages of 12 to 14, just because we had this connection, those type of relationships. And then the financial crisis happens, I’d say about eight or nine months into President Obama’s presidency. And we began to lose a lot of things. We had a lot of holdings in real estate and that started to kind of go south. His record label wasn’t doing too well. People were booking shows for a lot of the jazz artists that were his record label, as well as some of the Christian artists that were on his label. And so my step father began to kind of take it out on the family through kind of verbal abuse, eventually some physical abuse with my mother. And then one day it kind of got to the point where he said, Marcus, we’re throwing you guys out. I’m throwing your mom out. You got a choice. You can stay with me in this beautiful mansion. We have all these cars. I’ll take care of you or you can live with your mom. Of course, we’re going to go live with my mother. And so, you know, that was kind of one of the first times in my life I would say I had really had to rely on God is probably the best way to put that. You know, I’ve grown up extremely grateful. You know, my grandfather became a great grandfather was Dick. And, you know, we have several ministries in our family. I was baptized at four years old. I know Jesus my whole life at that point. But I never had been faced with adversity like that, you know? And we just joined the Church of the Family.
And I remember standing up to join the church. The pastor said to us, you know, when you choose to truly follow Christ, when you choose to truly follow Jesus, that is when the enemy tries to attack you sometimes the hardest because you know so much of a threat you are.
And we saw it firsthand.
You know, it was just so crazy to me that you just really dove into your faith. You just joined the church as a family. You just try to believer, as I’m a true believer now you kind of are homeless. And so anyway, after you left, my mom and my brothers and I go, we ended up kind of homeless living with my aunt. She had a two bedroom apartment and it was six of us living there. And so we only had one car. And we commute from her town of McAllen, Texas, to prosper every morning before the tollway in North Texas was built. So, you know, like fifty stoplights. And so it takes like an hour some change to get school. And, you know, we didn’t have any money. And so here we are kind of migrated from living in this beautiful man. Should have a president of United States in your home, having people like Martin Lawrence, you know, downstairs drinking beer with your step that you’re five deep to a car. You know, you’re getting at school. I’d say three thirty four in the morning because your aunt has to be at work in South Dallas by about eight a.m.. A browser to be an elementary, your mom has to be whatever gate she had at the time. And so that was a very, very tough time for me. But it was in those moments where I feel like my faith really became the center of my life.
Henry Kaestner: That’s really powerful. That’s incredible. So tell us what happens next. You go from. Really haven’t at all people looking to you, you probably some level of your identity is coming from the fact of, you know, who’s in your house to really having that all taken away. You lean into your faith and really dedicated committed to your mother, bringing out the other side of that. So you’re being formed. And what I understand some of your life as an athlete, that you’ve worked really, really, really hard in academics, but also just to make the football team and be there, just bring it through as you’re becoming a young adult. What happens next?
Marcus Stroud: Sure. Yeah. So I felt like my whole life up until that point, I was the definition of an offensive player. I wasn’t super aggressive. I love to get the ball. I was very much a happy go lucky kid who just loved to score touchdowns. And of course, would tease me because I’d never want to be tackled. I just wanted to run and score touchdowns. And I think when that adversity hit my family. I would say football was the greatest place I saw a change in how I approach life. I went from being this really skinny kid who just wanted to score touchdowns to your game to the three thirty four in the morning. You had nothing to do except lift. And I was a skinny guy. And so for me, that was my kind of sanctuary, if you will, was going to that weight room and just lifting and lifting when the coaches around and just kind of getting after it. And we couldn’t play any hip hop music in. Our coaches would get to the way they would get to the office around 5:00 a.m. So I would just play worship music and play old school rock and working out so that worship in that rock just really got me fired up every morning. And I just heard God’s voice. So clearly, Marcus, I am doing some things for you that you don’t know right now. You just have to keep working hard. You have to keep working hard. You have to demonstrate excellence. And I’d always ask myself, God, you know, this guy like, why do I have to demonstrate excellence? I’m the one who’s going home to no home, if you will. You know, I’m the one who when I did eventually get a car from my first car from my grandparents, I couldn’t afford to drive back to my aunt’s house. So I would sleep in the parking lot at Wal-Mart or Whataburger because I didn’t have enough gas to go back and forth between the colony and prosper. You want me to demonstrate excellence? You want me to demonstrate you. But I’m sleeping in my car here at Wal-Mart here at Burger. Then I’m coming in here and I’m getting after it and I’m busting my butt on the field. And I was so angry for so long because I was like, why me? Why me? And then I just stopped asking, why me? And I just started trusting his plan. And so I was always a really, really good student. But I sort of take it to the next level and school for me, I didn’t really care about getting good grades. I just cared about doing well enough in the classroom and doing the best I could on the field to get myself a scholarship to a really good school identically because I had seen my dad who was in the NFL, who did do well after a couple of years in NFL with money and etc.. I see what happened to him. And I said, God, if it’s your will for me to be a professional football player one day, you can make that happen from any school in America. But I know you’re calling me to be an example to other men, especially African-American men, someone who can rise to the top academically as well as politically and build something from that. And so my life kind of at that point was let me be the best I can and everything I do. And so eventually I became the first to your captain in my school history. I became the first four year class president in my school’s history.
It was funny right around the time the four year class president was actually five years. I was president from eighth grade through my senior year.
Yeah, for your class president. And, you know, it was on honor roll everything. President of FDE. I was doing all the right things. I won three presidents community service awards for serving hundreds and hundreds of hours of community service each year. I had one two mock trial competitions as one of the top young my trial attorneys in Texas. And so I was doing all the right things. But I was also working three jobs. I was working at a construction company, a barbecue restaurant in high school and high school. Yeah, as well as Abercrombie and Fitch. And, you know, I just didn’t really have any joy, if you will, because I didn’t really live a regular childhood. I’ll do the working or I was working competitively in sports where I was working academically. And so it was just continuous grind, grind, grind, grind. And I didn’t really understand it at that time, but I knew that God would send me something special. So anyway, my senior year comes around, you know, I’m starting to get some opportunities in football. You know, I’ve been man all state and things are going really well for me. And then, you know, one day we have a really, really big game against one of the top teams in the state of Texas. And I’m going against one of the top tackles in the state of Texas. And the kid beat me up. Basically, he wins the one on one. And I remember my coaches pulling me into the office after the game saying, hey, man, we know there’s not a lot going on, you know, for you at home right now. We know that you guys just lost your house because we got it home. We got evicted from it. We want to help you. And so my coach had offered to help me and, you know, financial ways and connect with people.
And they said, I think all the people we really want you to kind of buddy up with and get to know. Well, as Tori Hunter is just kind of how Tori came in my life. Tori son, always one of my best friends. He was one of our star football players also. But is that really became kind of a surrogate father, if you will? And so Tori and his wife, Sarah, mom, dad said, look, we’re going to take Marcus and we’re going to help your family out. We’re going to give you guys money so you can have some money set aside for a home over the next 12 months. But Marcus is going to live with us, you know, to go from work in ten thousand jobs, you know, busted by the school dealing with all the recruiting.
The tough part about the recruiting and the football thing was, you know, coaches like come to your house when they’re paying you a visit. We didn’t have a home to come to. So I always had to be coach at a restaurant or at my school in a weight room. And so it was so embarrassing. But now that he was in my life that when I was done with these guys, they could come by the house and in all these things. So it’s like my life was transformed overnight and it was just so, so humbling because, you know, you have one of the at at the time. You like the high speed MLB player, you have the highest paid baseball player essentially taking care of you, giving you everything you need, you know, you’re living with your best friends, his kids, and you’re just living this incredible life, but your family still trying to find their way. And so it was kind of a weird time for me because, yes, I was so grateful to have God bless my family through these unique ways, through touring and through other folks that I stepped into our life. But at the same time, I hated the fact that I was living this glamorous life that my family was struggling. So from there, I had the opportunity to actually go play football at Princeton. You know, I was being recruited by them as being recruited by a couple of the schools. And when it came down to it, I prayed about it. And the Lord, it just kind of showed me that prison was a place to go. And so, yeah, that’s kind of where my childhood, I guess, thought, if you will, and the Lord has blessed with incredible opportunity to go play ball at Princeton.
Henry Kaestner: So this is a great time and I should have done this at the outset. Marcus is an incredible story, an amazing story. I should have introduced my co-host for the future of an investor podcast up front. Don’t worry, William isn’t going anywhere. William continues to be part of faith driven entrepreneurs this Rusty. But as we continue to launch the movement, a feature of investing and I think that will in listening land, we can all agree that Luke’s job as emcee of the featured investor conference was second to none. And so with the momentum from that, we’ve asked him to come on board and dysmorphic driven investor podcast he’s on. And this is a great time for Luke to join best friend and business partner, super guy, really serious about the movement of veteran investing. He’s a practitioner in it. He is also a former college football player and had met Marcus and was the one that encouraged us to talk to him. So very appropriate that this is Luke’s debut. Luke, maybe you say a word and then just continue with the podcast, asking Marcus some questions, please.
Luke Roush: Yeah, thanks. Anyway, it’s good to be on. And Marcus could spend some time with you a couple of weeks ago, and it’s wonderful to have you on today. So just jumping right back into where Henry left off. So you graduate, you go to Princeton, you play there, obviously get a great education, then you get to work on Wall Street. Maybe just talk us through that transition. How did that feel in terms of your relationship with your family? And then you end up in this Ivy League school and on Wall Street, like just kind of walk us through what that felt like, what that what that was like?
Marcus Stroud: Yeah, it was incredible. You know, I think going to a school like that opened my eyes to a world I’d never seen before. And it was humbling because, you know, you go to school kids that went to, you know, some of the most prominent private schools in the world, their parents or some of the the biggest titans in their respective industries. And you know, that, er, if you will, becomes unbelievable to you in the sense that, like, wow, if I work really hard, I can achieve these things. But what stuck with me, though, I would say beginning my sophomore year in college, I didn’t like some of the alumni I had met, how they carry themselves. And let me unpack that. I didn’t like the fact that they may have been unbelievably successful. You didn’t see that Godlee there, if you will. It was very much their story. It was very much their identity, their success that that that that that. And I hated that because I saw so many of my teammates who began to follow that path. Also, I need to go to Wall Street to make X amount of money. I need to be rich. I need to be this and that. It just creates so much brokenness and so much just instability long term, if you will, by just having that type of mindset. And so anyway, I said, you know, that is a place I feel like God is called me to be. I feel like my ministry can be on Wall Street. And I’m not saying I can go into a firm and change that firm, if you will, as a first year associate. But if I can be someone who is on Wall Street but is striving to present a godly example, then what about the next Christian young man or woman who wants to be on Wall Street and has a hope and doing it because it’s so secular? What if I am able to encourage him to do it just by my example? And so anyway, that’s what led me to Wall Street. And so I began my career on Wall Street. And, you know, the first day of work, the very first day of work, I’m getting ready to leave my apartment in Tribeca and make my way up to Midtown. And my brother calls me and he’s like, Hey, man, I hate to bother you. I know it’s your first day of work. I know it’s super early, but I need some money to catch a cab. The Praxis right now. Let me catch cab. Do you guys want a car like you don’t have? You guys, last time I checked, your house wasn’t that far from high school. What do you mean you need money? It goes well, Marcus. We’ve actually been living in a shelter the last month. And you got to the point where we’ve been here so long that, you know, we’re going to probably be kicked out soon. You know, we need some help. And I’m starting football today. And I don’t want my teammates know that I’m homeless. And I think for me, like, I get the image in my head when I think about where I was when I got that call, it just shook me up because it’s like no matter how hard we work, no matter how much we sacrifice, no matter how much we prayed, no matter how faithful we think we have been, it makes me think of a story, a job. It’s like we’re still struggling, you know, even though I am, if you will, successful. We’re. Still struggling, even though my middle brother is going to pull out of Purdue, they’re still struggling. And so that’s what it was like, you know, and so I began my career there and I sent them some money. I just got a signing bonus that day, sums of money. And that was part of my time in New York. It was, you know, you bust your butt, you work hard, you’re doing your thing, you’re grinding. You’re trying to be the best young associate possible. But you’re not like your friends. You’re not like your colleagues. You don’t just go home or you don’t just look forward to the vacation. You’re going to take the Turks and Caicos and you look forward to bonus season and thinking about the next Rolex you’re going to buy or the next pair of Gucci loafers you’re going to buy, you’re literally saying, how can I save up enough money to be able to send my family a meaningful amount of capital, but also be able to start saving away, you know, for things like rings when I want to marry the woman I’m dating or just little things like that, you’re just thinking in a different mindset than a lot of your peers. And so that was a very challenging time for me just because a lot of times my head wasn’t where my college head was.
Luke Roush: Yeah, I think that’s sensible. I watched a number of my teammates, you know, when I was playing in college, too, just had not completely dissimilar experiences. And so that can be hard in terms of just kind of building community and feeling a part of what’s going on. So just on the Wall Street front, maybe talk through a little bit of how your faith played out in that world, which is, you know, oftentimes thought of as being kind of a dark, isolated place. How did that play out for you?
Marcus Stroud: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people see Wall Street and they think of movies like The Wolf of Wall Street. And I would say, given my youth, a lot of those Praxis are definitely bad now. And you see some of those things that occur in the office the way they probably used to do back in the day. But at the same time, I would say the mentality is still very much there. You know, it was still very much a cutthroat environment. Money was still top of mind for people, not morality. And that’s tough because if you’re not bought into the place to work and it’s just like being an athlete, if you’re not bought into the team, if you’re not bought into the motto and mentality of the team that you’re playing for, you’re not going to be a good teammate. You’re not going to be able to fulfill your potential as an athlete. And I think the same way can be said for Wall Street. At the same time, you need to make money and you need to be successful, you know, to live it. So you try to, in a unique way, be a hybrid of sorts, be someone who is unbelievably hungry, unbelievably scrappy, demonstrating the tenacity that a lot of Wall Street folks look for in to an analyst. But also you’re trying to demonstrate what it’s like to be a man of God while on the trading floor, you know, and that’s being someone that’s kind, someone that’s gentle, someone that’s humble and someone that demonstrates the qualities of a godly man or woman, if you will. And so that was tough because you didn’t really have any examples around you. You know, it’s like when you’re playing sports, you have upperclassmen who you can look at who do things the right way in the way they do things, the right way on the field. And you want to follow that, you know, and then they do things the right way off the field. You don’t see them doing stupid stuff on a Friday night or Saturday night. You know, they’re doing the right thing all around the clock for me. I didn’t really have that, if you will, in front of me at the firm. I was at it. So they’re all really, really good people, but good as it gets to the head of it. And so, you know, I had to kind of go above and beyond. And so I was fortunate that I had teammates who I walk with through my four years in college spiritually, and they now become part of Wall Street also. And they were working at some really cool banks. And so we would get together, we would go to church together, we would have a small group together. We would pray together during the week and we’d say, hey, man, like, how can I be praying for you this week? You know, as you’re working on, these trades are going to be praying for you this week as you had these tough meetings with your bosses or as bonuses and comes around. And it’s very easy to get swayed by the dollar amounts and to lose sight of the fact that God is ultimately going to provide you the provision that you need. And so that’s what it was like for me as a Christian on Wall Street is just continually searching and searching and searching for examples and mentors and people to look to. When I realized at the end, like, hey, man, God hasn’t called you to look for humans as examples of him. He’s called you to be rude in scripture and to get your example from scripture first and foremost. And so that was probably something that really changed my life, knowing that scripture had to be first and foremost for me as I look for resources to be an example of Christ in the workplace.
Henry Kaestner: OK, I want to fast forward now to what you do. You’re an investor. This is the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. And I want to get into what you’re doing, but I can’t do that without telling you about CIC First Clubhouse Investment Club. What was that? What problem were you looking to solve? Bring us into an investment career?
Marcus Stroud: Yes, that’s really my firm in New York. I work for a fund in Austin. Longevity considered as focused hedge fund. Really, really awesome. Learned so. I had a chance to be a part of their one point seven billion dollars class vehicle that was on the advisory board and then a couple other funds they had worked on. And it really gave me a tremendous amount of exposure to the alternative asset class. And just as I was going to go work for another fund, I would say pure fun of the one I was at. Tauri calls me and he says, Hey, Marcus, I’d love for you to be a part of the clubhouse. And so in 2011, in 2010, there was a third party called Broke Town, why athletes go broke and end up being one of the top three players using the release. And a lot of those guys in that theater for 30 Winfried Substory with a bunch of those guys were friends and stories growing up. And so I grew up around these guys. I mean, I knew them pretty well. And so toread created the clubhouse. And that’s required as a way for athletes to co-invest alongside primitivist capital for a premier private equity funds and for some of those guys to be direct LPs in those funds to those guys would kind of bring their money together and have an LP position, because, you know, a lot of these guys figure out how much money they make. They didn’t have enough capital to be LPs by themselves and acquire Perkins’ or a Koslov interest. Fine. But they had enough as a group to be an LP, if you will. And so that was the clubhouse. It’s my job in the clubhouse was I really took it over. So I manage all the relationships with athletes. I manage the relationships with the managers in which the athletes were working with some of those funds. And I helped them get deal flow from CDC. Every A is kind of what we focused on, got the guys really awesome opportunities. And yet I was kind of like a liaison, if you will, between them and some of the top four in Silicon Valley.
Luke Roush: That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing on that. And it had to be a lot of fun just being able to work and operate in that space and also being able to just improve access for some special people to be able to get access to the funds that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible. How did you bridge kind of from that into tech savvy and want to hear more about what you’re doing there?
Marcus Stroud: Yes. So doing the clubhouse was, like you said, it was an unbelievable dream. I mean, I’m literally working with some of the guys I’ve looked up to my whole life on the field and, you know, some of the most well-known athletes in the world. But there is a major opportunity. And it’s like for me, I never had a dream of being entrepreneurial, if you will, early in my life.
I feel like this is one of the first times in my professional career where does tangibly was showing me through people in three things, the path that he wanted me to take, because this was never my dream in my head. My dream was, you’re going to work at a fund, then work with this fund, you’re going to do well, and then you’ll probably end up at a firm like TPG for 10 or 15 years. You’ll see well there maybe stay open. Maybe you’ll try to break ranks there and that’s going to be it, essentially, and then you’ll find other things to be passionate about.
I never thought this early in my life I would throw the entrepreneurial out. And so at Club House, I was meeting some really, really awesome people.
And one of the people I met was a guy named Bret Jones. And Bret was a incredible tight end for the San Francisco Forty Niners who eventually went on to have a really, really awesome, you know, private equity capital career where he started a phone call working capital was at its peak, was a four point four billion fund of funds. And so he had used the scrappiness of being a star 49ers football player to get access to Sequoia in 1992 and Excel and all these other great fun super early on. And then he eventually raise the funds to be helped in those funds.
And so he ended up moving to Southlake, which is a suburb outside Dallas with his wife. Once he got down, lived in the valley, and we were introduced through another NFL player named Steve Wasniewski. And so, Brittny, you know, we got breakfast and then we had coffee and we would just talk about life, talk about what it means to be a man of God in that space and how it was for him starting a foot in one day just kind of said to me, you can do it, man. He gave me kind of that conviction that I could do it. He said, you can start a fight. I think the courthouse is cool. I think it’s awesome. But you’re a unique guy. You’re a type of guy who entrepreneurs love and you’re the type of guy that investors are going to like also. So anyway, after I met with Brett, I said I need to go talk to more people. If I to start a fund, I need to go talk to more people because, yes, the clubhouse is such a cool opportunity. But I know we’re missing something and maybe being a starter fund or maybe it means I should enhance certain aspects of the clubhouse. So we went out to San Francisco, we met with my partner and I met with David Crane, Google Ventures, and you see over there. And he had said, you haven’t it, if you will. He’s like, you’re lucky, guys. Those are the words you use. You’re a lucky guy. You’re one of those guys where a lot of good things happens to you. And those aside, people are going to be really, really, really good investors and become really successful in this space. And his word was luck. My word that I was hearing was favor. And so I said, well, you know, if this man can see from his position that favor the guy that afforded me in my life, maybe I should take the next step. And so we decide to start a fund.
And the reason we want to start a fund is because we saw a tremendous amount of opportunity. As a firm in Texas, if you will, this is right around the time Austin was really becoming the hot alternative to Silicon Valley, we saw a really cool opportunity to start a fund in Austin that could represent the future of diversity. I don’t mean a firm that is like all black or firm. That’s all male or firm. That’s all Ivy League or firm that like, you know, fill in homogenous group, whatever you want there. A firm that truly could represent the future that had men and women of all different backgrounds that invested in some of the most innovative entrepreneurs that we could find and didn’t really care in terms of what color they were, what gender they were just a really unique find that truly exemplified what the future is going to look like. And that’s what I want to start. And then more importantly, I wanted to create a firm that my kids would want to work at one day and that my kids friends want to work at one day that I would have gone to work at and college, a firm that was led by godly men, you know, that were kind or gentle or meek. But we’re still some scrappy some of the guns. We’re still hungry and we’re still going to find some really awesome returns. And we’re going to still to teach investors some of the best technologies alongside some of the children in the valley. That is what we want to create. And so that is why we created it. And so it was tough because early on, you know, my co-founder and I happen to be black.
A lot of people were quick to label us as the diversity investors and as the fund that was focused exclusively on minority entrepreneurs. And don’t get me wrong, I respect funds like that. We need those funds. The fact that women and minorities receive less than one percent of U.S. dollars goes to show that you need funds dedicated to those type of entrepreneurs. But that’s not who we want to be. We didn’t want to be put in a bubble. We wanted to just be some really cool guys that entrepreneurs like to work with that invested in entrepreneurs we thought were best for our fun and contributors. And so that’s our story. So within a couple of months after spin out of the clubhouse, we convinced some the clubhouse guys to give us some seed capital to get going. We started thinking we got a little bit of press. And I would say this is kind of you know, we’ve got has shown some favor in us, know, I would say like maybe two months in starting the fund. We’re sitting behind a white board, we work office and we get a cold call from this random number. And this guy on the other line says, hey, my name is so-and-so from TPG. I’d love to have you guys come in and talk to us. And I’m like TPG, the firm, like the piece. You go like this, guys, it’s possible this is not really cheap, but it was really TVG in that meeting, the founders of the firm and some of them thought it’s a little bit of our story. And what was really cool about that and why that’s relevant to this podcast right now. We got up and we told our story and we did it subconsciously, but we talked about how much God had done for us in our lives and how we felt this was our ministry, if you will, to grow his kingdom and to give back to this space. And you could tell some of the people in the room, a lot of folks who were believers were kind of like thrown off by that. But there were a couple of people in the audience who were clapping their hands and their faces just lit up because how many times have they seen folks in their space come before a room of, say, two hundred and fifty people in their Fort Worth and their San Francisco office and say, hey, we are here because of the grace of God and we’re going to build a fund that reflects that. And so, yeah, that was kind of the moment we knew, like, it’s going to be a very tough, difficult road, but we need to be here.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah. So Supermoto, tell us, what does it look like to build a fund from the get go we’ve got at the center? What does that mean that you do and how are you thinking how TV is different than every other fund that’s out there then TPG So it starts with the thought.
Marcus Stroud: Leadership, in my opinion, always starts at the top. And so it’s about how do you care for people in your firm? How do you care for people when you have a small firm that many people? How do you care with your service providers? How are you being a steward of the capital, your investment trust you with? And so tangibly, how does that look? How often are we talking at team about ways in which we can improve his teammates and as members, how are we handling conflict with each other? OK, we disagree about something. Are we yelling at each other or are we saying choice words or are we demonstrating what it looks like to be brothers in Christ and talk to conflict in a godly way? We’re praying about it. We’re bringing it to elder council and they’re counseling us through it. And so that is kind of how we did. And so every Monday morning at about 7:00 a.m., we all sit down for coffee. We talk about our weekends to talk about kind of what’s on our heart. We pray for each other through everything that’s going on in our lives. You know, we asked you, like, hey, how can I be better towards you? We have candid conversations like that and we go from there. And the thing is, when you do the little things right, it carries over into the big things. So if you do the little things right by talking to your teammates the right way in the office, by talking to your service providers, even though they may have done something that wasn’t good for your firm, but by treating them with kindness and respect. It carries over into how you talk to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that eventually do is there’s something about you guys, there’s something about you guys, you know, like I don’t know what it is that there’s something about you guys. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re Texas, you know, it’s actually just such nice people. And that becomes your mantra. And it’s like, yeah, there is something about us, you know, the Holy Spirit is in his office. The Holy Spirit is in each of us, and that’s how we do business. And so I think we try to actively hold each other accountable spiritually, you know, physically, emotionally. And that contributes to the culture of our firm, which eventually, hopefully, as it grows, will be Amen would be something that entrepreneurs can see right away, that these guys are just different. This is not like talking to typical VC private equity fund.
Luke Roush: So, Marcus, you and I had a good conversation just about the journey with TPG specifically. And, you know, the fact that it was, you know, mixed reaction to you bearing witness testimony to, you know, what God is doing in and through you and your business partner. How has that story and that, you know, active testimony played out on the fundraising trail? You know, we’ve had experiences personally and, you know, prior to sovereigns professionally with, you know, that going over like a lead balloon. What’s it been like for you if you’ve borne witness?
Marcus Stroud: Yeah. So I think for us, we kind of hit the mark at the right time. So our fund, we focused supposedly on human performance within his reformist health policies as well as sort of price. And so for us, our investment thesis, if you will, definitely was suited for this kind of time, if you will. And so we’ve been lucky that that’s resonating with people. But I will say that being a young, diverse fun in a place like Texas definitely has its challenges.
And I don’t see it has its challenges because we’re black or whatever. It’s just like this is a state in which this asset class historically has been kind of the bread and butter of the state. And so there’s a reason there probably zero diverse funds in the state of Texas. You know, you have to go probably to Atlanta to the next closest place in the south where there is a little bit of diversity. But, yeah, it’s been tough. I would say. On one hand, we’ve been fortunate to have received the support from folks like Karta, Motley Fool and other interesting and unique strategic groups. On the other hand, it’s like a lot of people, it’s tough for them to, I guess, understand the bigger vision, because when we tell people is we’re not just an investment fund. You’re not just investing in a VC, but you’re not just going to get quarterly updates. This is not just a regular basis upon which you’re investing in. And you try to see that in a way that can resonate with, say, a nonbeliever. And it’s a little bit difficult.
You know, and one of the things that I remember we told of our first investor that resonate with him and why he wrote a check like we have a chance to have an impact on this world in a way that few funds can probably do just given where we are, the timing of the world right now and just some of the folks that the Lord has put into our life. And we were fortunate in that we did a talk, if you will, or I guess an episode on NBC Press here in San Francisco.
And we did that and it got in the hands of a lot of people and we ended up getting a letter. It was address San Quentin State Prison. And when I saw that, I thought, oh, gosh, you know, what’s one of my family members in San Quentin State Prison? And you saw this thing out in San Francisco. I was so worried. I was like, oh, my goodness, what is this? That we open it and it’s a letter from an inmate and it won’t say his name. But in the letter he says, I saw you guys on ABC Press here and I saw what you were talking about and I saw the energy you guys were talking with. And I saw I heard the goals of your firm. And it just gave me so much hope and joy behind these bars. You know, I was framed for burglary and I served four years here. And I take an entrepreneurship class here. And one of the things that I’ve learned is that, like, it’s very difficult to be successful in business, but also be godly. And seeing a young man like yourself, you know, on a platform such as NBC press here in the heart of Silicon Valley, while based in Texas, just kind of gave me a lot of hope that when my time is up here, there may be opportunities to meet people like you who may give me a chance one day.
And that letter kind of just is stuck with me because it’s like you don’t know who the Lord has for you and your life. You don’t know what impact you can give to people. You just don’t know. It just goes to show that you’re playing. It’s not your own. It’s not you’re just a part of this kind of a you’re just a puzzle piece in his creative planet. That’s it. And so I guess between the people, we’ve had a chance to in fact, the folks who’ve been introduced to, you know, it’s been mixed. On one hand, we’ve gotten some, like I said, investor commitments from some of the top unique groups in this country. And then on the other hand, you know, it’s been tough. Difficult to find LP’s that resonate with your mission. And so, yeah, that’s kind of how the country has been.
Henry Kaestner: Thanks for sharing. That’s awesome. Marcus Marcus, one of the things that we always like to do when we close out every podcast is unfortunately, we have to do now is to understand what you’re hearing from God through his word. One of the things we love to point our listeners back to is just how important it is to spend time on God’s word every day. And so it doesn’t for you doesn’t necessarily mean be something that you learn this morning, but maybe something over the last week or last month that you feel has really encouraged and equipped you and and what you and your partner of get going.
Marcus Stroud: Yeah, for sure. I’m excited to answer this question, too. Last week, I turned 27 and I was at my prom school in Akron, Ohio. And when I got there, I met a guy by the name of Aeneas Williams, and this was the Hall of Fame quarterback who is now a pastor in the NFL. And this is an unbelievable man. And this was actually my dad’s teammate on the Cardinals and my mom, my whole life is said to be Marcus. There’s one person I want you to meet in your life. In sports, it has to be a news. WILLIAMS We were in Bible study with him and his wife for a long time. He’s an incredible man. He’s someone who’s going to put a lot of prayer into the second. You mean and I just know God has told me that one day you will meet the needs. So I meet a need is when I met the event last week. And I just really, like, turn around and like God. Oh, my goodness. Wow. The day before my birthday, you really are hearing about it and had been praying, oh, my flight there is like, Lord, show me what you want for me this year. Show me how you want me to live my life this year in terms of through this forum and just through my life. And so when I met with a nurse, we end up getting together for dinner. We have been together for a lot of things. You could tell that God was at work, strategically, put us together so we could talk. And another gentleman that was with a niece, with a guy named Sean Alexander, Sean was a great running back for the Seattle Seahawks. That would be so anyway, Sean and a nice guy just put our hearts to kind of just minister, can’t we minister to these few days and man, the amount of fruit they poured in my life, the amount of just things they blessed me with was just so unbelievable. And it was something that I needed to hear and it was something that I could tell God was just saying clearly to me through them. And I think what I’ve learned is the importance of truly, truly sacrificing things around you to just listen to the God’s voice. And that means, you know, cleaning out your mornings to where you’re not distracted by the work that you’re trying to accomplish before seven thirty. You’re not distracted by all the emails that popped up the night before that you want to get you right away. It’s simply waking up and giving it to God. First and foremost, beginning your day with God, God only. That’s it. Don’t put on any hype music to get you going. Don’t do any of that. Just simply listen to God’s voice. Do it by reading scripture, do about meditating, do about praying, whatever works for you, but just truly giving the first few hours of your day to Christ. And when I tell you, both of them kind of recommend that to me. And it’s been a Praxis I’ve done now for like the last four days, it has been life changing and it has brought me so much joy by just dedicating an hour, not ten minutes, not five minutes, but an hour, hour and a half to Jesus first thing in the morning. And so that’s kind of what he showed me. Just, hey, you know, this is my firm. Your life is dedicated to me. I get to start the day.
Henry Kaestner: And it’s been like, wow, what an incredible witness that you might provide to some of these entrepreneurs that you’re investing in.
You know, being an entrepreneur is one of the most stressful positions in life, and they’re trying to understand the meaning of identity and why they’re working so hard. And that’s one of the reasons why entrepreneurship is one of the biggest areas of mental illness and even suicide. And for you to be able to show that it’s not just kind of a check, the back ten minute thing is I am all too often guilty of doing but real intentional time. I made an incredible impression on me and our listeners. I’m sure it’s going to make an incredible impression on those you invest in.
Marcus Stroud: Thank you. Yeah, I’m so grateful that God kind of showed me that over the last few weeks. When I tell you it has been life changing, I try to encourage all my friends to start doing it. It’s it’s been beautiful.
Henry Kaestner: It’s been a special treat having you on the program. I’m grateful for your time. I’m grateful for your faithfulness and what God caused you to do. I’m excited for what’s next for you. And I just want to pray for your heavenly father. We lift up Marcus and we celebrate the great work you’ve done in his life from the beginning. And dear Lord, we ask for favor and protection. We ascended. You will help him to find the right deals to invest in. We ask that you would help us to find the right investors that would come alongside him. We pray for blessings on this partnership. Said they would work together well, and that gives me great time to reflect and be grateful for the partner that I’ve got and the partners that I’ve got.
Dear Lord, we just ask that you would allow Marcus to hear more from you. His identity would be fully rooted in you and that you would give him opportunity to be able to be a great witness with gentleness and respect, but a great witness nonetheless. And when he shows excellence and shows love to. All of these things in Jesus name, amen.
Host: Thank you so much for joining us on today’s show. We’re very, very grateful for the opportunity to serve the larger faith driven investor community. Hey, the best way for you to stay connected is to sign up for our monthly newsletter at Faith Driven Investor Dog. And while you’re there, we, of course, want to hear from you. We derive great joy from interacting with many of you. And it’s been very rewarding to see people join the discussion now from all around the world. But it’s also very important to us that you feel like this is your show and that you’ll help make it something that best equips you on your journey, one that you’re proud of and one that you’ll share with others. This podcast, it wouldn’t be possible without the help from many of our friends. Executive producer Justin Forman, program director Johnny Will’s music by Carl Cagle. You can see and hear more of his work at summer drag’s dotcom and audio and editing by Richard Bahle of Cornerstone Church in San Francisco.